Today, everyone either receives or exerts some kind of social expectation towards someone else in the community. Women expect their long time boyfriends to propose, parents expect their children to live a happy life, children expect Santa Clause to bring them their most desired toys etc. Regardless of the situation, however everyone is experiencing or has experienced some kind of social expectation at least once. Even though people may experience different types of social expectations, the one thing everyone can agree upon is the fact that the higher someone is in the social stratification latter the higher those social expectations will be. In universities, for example, athletes are perhaps depicted as one of the higher members of the social strata by students and thereby are expected to behave in a certain manner and act a certain way. However, by creating these social expectations most athletes get taken away the right to express their selves and do what they desire.

Statistics depict that 27% of all High School Athletes “come out” and that only 2% of all University Athletes “come out” (Frankel, 2014). The question of why this matter occurs remains unanswered, however many speculate that the number reflected in these statistics are the causes of fear towards social expectations. For example, On April 2014 Rutgers University Basketball Coach, Mike Rice, was fired after a video aired on ESPN show First Take in which images showed Coach Rice verbally and physically abusing the basketball team during practices by calling them names, such as “fags”, and hitting them with the basketball every time a play did not go as planned (ESPN, 2012). The video that leaked to the press caused major controversy not just because physically hurting students is an illegal act by any university staff in the United States, but also because the verbal insults told by Rice were meant to humiliate and degrade the team members (ESPN, 2012). As former NBA player, John Amaechi stated in an interview with Barbara Frankel “college sports are a space where homophobic slurs, physical and psychological abuse are not only accepted, but are also considered normal (Frankel, 2014).” As Amaechi goes on to explain, he decided to come out as gay after he concluded his career because of the “real problem with sports…[is that] they maintain separate behaviors for sports that we would never deem acceptable anywhere else. (Frankel, 2014).”

Link to ESPN Coach Mike Rice Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkeUCZ3qzK0

 Nevertheless, today numerous university athletes appear to be stating their sexuality preferences and are beginning to receive, for the most part, positive responses from their teammates. University of Notre Dame tennis player Matthew Dolley, for example, explained in an interview with HuffPost College what it was like to openly announce his sexuality preference in a team meeting (Brekke, 2014). Dolley states that his teammates responded with understanding and expressed their sympathy and acceptance towards the topic (Brekke, 2014). In fact, Dolley states that one of his teammates went as far as to saying thank you as an act of gratitude in reaction to Dolley’s courage, and that afterwards practice proceeded the team meeting like normal (Brekke, 2014). Another example of such is Fred Hartville, a University of Illinois Gymnast, who told Outsports in an interview that he was originally nervous and scared of thinking he was gay since his family always made reference to his friend, Steve Grand, as “that gay boy. (Buzinski, 2015)” Nevertheless, Hartville goes on to stress on how he began to see himself more in Steve Grand’s character, until one day he decide to hold a meeting with his team and announce that he was, indeed, gay (buzinski, 2015). According to Hartville his teammates and coaches displayed no problem or hate towards Hartville “coming out” decision (Buzinski, 2015). In fact, Hartville told Outsports that his openness strengthen relationship between his teammates and himself. Hartville also told Outsports that the manner in which his teammates carried themselves out in front of him did not change either, in fact, Hatville states that the only change that occurred within his team was the lack of use of the word “gay” and “fag”, which he considers to be positive (Buzinski, 2015).

There is no definite explanation as to why some university athletes experience different situations with their teammates in accordance with their sexual preference. Even though some university athletes experience a positive experience in which their team relationship strengthens and others believe that their sexual preference might repudiate them as an athlete, the basic ground in sports should be an athlete’s sportsmanship, not their sexual preference. The decision to feel attracted towards a certain gender should not determine how you will potentially be treated by your colleagues, and thereby the number of openly gay athletes should be higher than what statistics depict.

Work Cited:

Brekke, Kira. “Openly Gay College Athletes Explain What It’s like To Come Out To Their Team.” Huff Post College. April 17, 2014. www.huffingtonpost.com. April 8, 2015.

Buzinski, Jim. “Gay University of Illinois gymnast inspired by Steve Grand’s ‘All-American Boy.” Outsports. February 26, 2015. Www.outsports.com. April 8,2015

Frankel, Barbara. “Why Are Gay College Athetes in the Closet?”DiversityInc. 2014. www.diversityinc.com. April 8, 2025